Just bought a tank

My name is Jess and live in pleasant grove.  I just bought a red sea max 130 a 3 year established tank.  Any upgrades recommended? I have 6 fish: clown, hippo tang, yellow wrasse, 2 chromis, and a mandarin goby. Lots of coral.  I would be interested in coral trades and 1 chromis. I'm excited to learn about the hobby or obsession of salt water.  I have had fresh water tanks before but didn't get much excitement out of them.  The move went well and has been up and running for about a week.  Any must do's or must not do's that I should be a where of? first day i bought more clean up crew (snails, hermit crabs, cleaner shrimp and peppermint shrimp).  All the crabs/ shrimp are doing well but the snails seem to be dieing and eaten by crabs.  Any suggestions?  First day my largest hermit crab (orange and blue legged crab) pulled the largest turbo snail of the wall ate him and toke over his shell.  Is this normal? 8 out of the 10 new sails or goners.  6 out of the 8 are eaten and the other 2 just appear to be dead.  Any thoughts?  Sorry for all the ?'s on the intro.  Here are some pics:




Edited by chelstromj - May 29 2011 at 4:52pm

Welcome Jess! I am in PG too! Glade to have you hear! Ask away. The reason could be the snails are dieing because you dont have enough food in there for them. Crabs usually will turn to other source of food if they aren't getting enough. How often are you feeding your tank? Personally Im not a big fan of lots of crabs. Also how long did you acclimate the inverts?

Welcome! and enjoy the ride! Ask away!

I want to get rid of one of my chromis. Not pick up another.  I would like just a little more color.

I feed my tank a small amount once every day.  The three old timer snails are doing great and haven't been bothered by the crabs.  the new ones I acclimated them from about half hour or so.  Shrimp are doing great.  I have a little to many hermit crabs I think.( 15 or so) and only about 5 small snails. Two of the dead snails are not eaten yet.  Let me know what you think.

i am brand new to this hobby and started with a rsm 4 days ago.  your tank is nice... hopefully ill be there soon  

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the tang in his tank.    Your tank looks great!

hydro phoenix wrote: your tank looks pretty clean so i agree with not getting enough to eat for your snails. Also might want to try a phosphate check. You did just recently move it right? Hermits will rip snails out for food and their shell. Especially when they are about to molt. I had one(scarlet crab) we eventually named him Gigantor. He demolished our snails for a while until he was so big he cared little for the snails in the tank. We fed him little pellets after that. They will also rip each other out too. It's very odd. If you hear a tapping sound in your tank it's likely that one crab is bumping another out of it's shell. I suggest if you can find it, watch. Absolutely fascinating! You might also want to go to a LFS and buy a few extra shells for them to trade in once in a while. Good Luck!